Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!ames!vsi1!zorch!xanthian From: xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) Newsgroups: comp.graphics Subject: Re: Hints, tips, pointers to RenderMan Stuff Keywords: not in FAQ! Message-ID: <1990Jun14.130326.27130@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> Date: 14 Jun 90 13:03:26 GMT References: <3159@leah.Albany.Edu> Organization: SF Bay Public-Access Unix Lines: 44 In article <3159@leah.Albany.Edu> rds95@leah.Albany.Edu (Robert Seals) writes: > >Is there a standard text or anything that can get me started learning >about RenderMan? Are there any platforms that are preferred? >Where has it been implemented? What is the scoop? Is it kinda like >a library deal, or is it more like PostScript? Or completely >different. There are two documents you need to understand Renderman: The RenderMAN Interface Version 3.0 May 1988 Order from Pixar, 3240 Kerner Blvd., San Rafael, CA 94901 (415) 258-8100, Cost, about $15.00 The RenderMan Companion A Programmer's Guide to Realistic Computer Graphics Steve Upstill, Copyright 1990 by Pixar Addison-Wesley Publishing Company ISBN 0-201-50868-0, Mine cost $26.95 The first is the formal standard for an application programmer's interface to rendered graphics and animation. The second is the popularization of the same idea, published as a large softcover book. I don't know of any implementations outside Pixar, but they have a very liberal policy on use of their standard, so since the interface is widely praised, I expect some implementations are underway. I'd like to do one myself, but mental health problems prevent that. RenderMan is an interface, not an implementation, but if you are into top quality graphics rendering, reading these books will be a valuable part of your education in computer graphics, showing you one well regarded way to organize a very large graphics implementation, though neither book gives you the skills directly to _do_ that implementation. Still, as I know from my 4.5 years creating another standard (ANSI X3H3 Graphical Kernel Standard), getting the thing organized is the hard part (I helped write an implementation of a GKS-like interface called CORE in about 1/4th the time it took to create the GKS standard). Kent, the man from xanth. -- (member, "lonely old geezers with lap cats" posting cabel)